


Even Bratty Teenage Girls Fall in Love

by Snow



Category: High School Musical
Genre: F/F, Fake Crush, Femslash, High School, M/M, Theater - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-16
Updated: 2009-12-16
Packaged: 2017-10-04 11:42:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Snow/pseuds/Snow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ryan pretends to have a crush on Gabriella, Chad makes his own decisions, Taylor tries to help, Sharpay's pretty sure she deserves the best of everything, and Kelsi plays a minor role in the musical.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Even Bratty Teenage Girls Fall in Love

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much to my beta, GrayShadows, who did wonderful things to make the story better.

**Disclaimer:** I own neither High School Musical, nor Plague! the Musical

**Monday, Week One**

"I just think Troy's being way too over-the-top about this," Gabriella said, slinging an arm over Kelsi's shoulder. "I'm pretty sure this kind of physical interaction—with a girl—means as little to Ryan as it does to, well, you." Gabriella giggled.

"Bad example," Kelsi muttered.

"What was that?"

"I wouldn't make assumptions."

"What do you mean?" Gabriella said. "Ryan is gay, isn't he?"

"I really wouldn't know once way or the other."

Gabriella giggled again. "No, I suppose not. Still, I just think Troy worries too much about other people. If I break up with him it won't be because I found someone who can dance better. But it might be because he treads on my toes one too many times. Speaking metaphorically, of course. Troy's actually a very good dancer."

"Of course," Kelsi echoed. "Unfortunately the dancer is also a basketball player, who has practice now. But I was wondering if you'd be willing to run through this song. Help me visualize it. If you'd rather not, thought, I can do it on my own, no problem. Don't worry about it."

"Kelsi?"

"Yes?"

"I'd love to sing it."

"Oh!" Kelsi lit up for a second or two, before toning down the smile to something a little less blinding. "Great, just let me give you your copy." She thrust it into Gabriella's waiting hands.

* * *

"We cool?" Troy asked.

"Why wouldn't we be?" Chad asked, and even he could tell he sounded defensive.

"Nothing. Just, you've been a little distant lately."

"Yeah, I've just had a lot on my mind."

"You mean beyond all that hair?"

"Ha ha."

"But seriously, Chad. You haven't been quite here. Anything up?"

"I broke up with Taylor. Or she broke up with me. I think it was kind of mutual."

"Oh, man. I'm sorry. That sucks."

Chad shrugged, then grinned. "N'ah. It'll just allow me to make my move on Gabi next time she breaks up with you."

"Your evil master plan has been revealed. Now I'll just have to make sure she doesn't break up with me."

"Foiled again!" Chad declared, as his shot bounded off the backboard, into Troy's hands.

"I guess you'll just have to accept how awesome I am," Troy replied.

"I think the word you're looking for is fabulous," Chad replied, letting himself think of Ryan for a moment.

Troy wrinkled his nose.

* * *

**Tuesday**

"Look, you're friends with Ryan, right?"

Kelsi prickled, because if there was one thing she didn't want to be noticed by Sharpay for, it was her friendship with Ryan. "On his good days."

"He has bad days?"

"Many of them. Most of them when he's listening to you. Look, Sharpay, did you want something? I think I've already rewritten every song in the musical. Twice. And we only have a week and a half before the first performance. So if you're looking for something like that, I'm afraid the answer is no."

Sharpay raised an eyebrow and leaned over Kelsi to grab the sheet music Kelsi had been playing from. Kelsi remembered just why she found the other girl so intimidating and swallowed the desire to protest.

"Who are you writing this for?" Sharpay asked, and Kelsi gulped.

"It's just for this character," Fortunately, or maybe not, Sharpay cut her off before Kelsi spent too much stammering.

"What character?"

Kelsi shrugged, but Sharpay continued to glare.

"I wrote it for me," Kelsi said.

"You don't sing."

Kelsi didn't deny it, but Sharpay just shrugged. "Not in public anyway. So what's up?"

"I just wanted to try writing something for me," Kelsi murmured, sure her eyes had to be comically wide.

Sharpay nodded, like that made sense, then took a step back from the piano. "Just make sure you don't forget about me."

"Don't think I could," Kelsi muttered, after Sharpay had departed with a flounce.

* * *

"Look, Ryan. Taylor recommended I talk to you, and I agreed because she's great, but it's really unfair to expect too much out of her."

"Okay."

"I'm gay."

Ryan nodded, as if Chad had just told the other boy he couldn't control his hair, or was on the basketball team. "I'm not," Ryan replied. "Or, well. I'm bisexual. Have you considered that?"

Chad winced at Ryan's answer. "I've considered everything," he said, which was true when he applied it to himself. Less so when he applied it to Ryan, because it hadn't crossed Chad's mind that Ryan wouldn't be gay. "I have no sexual interest in Taylor," he continued, when he realized he'd paused too long, and Ryan was looking at him strangely. "It seems like I should, but I just don't. Whereas—"

"What about Gabriella?" Ryan asked.

"Gabriella! No, man. Definitely not."

Ryan held up his hands in a placating gesture. "I'm not planning on making any moves on her. I just think she's cute is all."

Chad snorted, but he was more disappointed than he thought he would be. "Like she'd choose you over Troy."

Ryan looked so heartbroken that for a second Chad almost wished Ryan _did_ had a chance with Gabi. "Right."

* * *

**Wednesday**

"I thought you had the monopoly on being a jerk in your family."

Sharpay spun back from her locker to identify the speaker as none other than Taylor McKessie. Who she normally wouldn't dream of talking to, but if it involved her family, she had no choice. "What do you want?"

"Ask your brother about it. Since I really can't see you talking to Chad. Or him talking to you, for that matter."

"Ryan?" Sharpay asked.

Taylor just nodded, so Sharpay slammed her locker shut and, with a glance around to make sure no one was watching, tugged on Taylor's arm to drag the other girl into an empty classroom.

"You are insane," Taylor spat as Sharpay closed the door of the room. "Both of you. And I'm sorry that you're so resentful of someone actually having a decent relationship that you feel the need to coerce Ryan into helping break it up. Come on, Sharpay, I know you're slow, but you still don't get it? You really think I'm the only one who finds it unlikely, to say the least, that Ryan has a crush on Gabriella?"

"Gabriella!" Sharpay squeaked. "Where is Ryan? I'm going to kill him." She didn't waste time waiting for a non-response from Taylor, opting instead to charge back into the hallway, shouting. "Ryan!"

* * *

"Who did you tell?"

"What do you mean? I didn't tell anyone," Taylor replied.

"Right." Chad believed her for all of two seconds. "Troy just figured it out all his own? Not terribly likely, given that I think I know Ryan better than anyone other than his sister, and _I_ never saw this coming."

"I might have yelled at Sharpay. And then she might have set off screaming at Ryan down the hall."

"What does Sharpay have to do with this?"

"Think about this logically. There's no way Ryan would decide on his own to break up Troy and Gabriella. I think last summer proved he's a better person than that. But he's still Sharpay's poodle, so if she put enough pressure on him, he would cave."

"One flaw in that scenario. Ryan isn't trying to break them up. He told me about his _crush_, but only to let me know that he's unavailable."

"Oh, Chad. I'm sorry."

"Not your fault. _Really_ not your fault."

"I did suggest you talk to him about it. Have you told Troy? Or Gabriella?"

"About Ryan's crush? Troy already found out, so I expect it won't be long until he overreacts and then Gabriella will know as well."

"No, that you're gay."

"No."

* * *

**Thursday**

"Ryan, I don't know what you're trying to prove," she said, pulling the car out of the driveway.

"Really, Shar, you don't? Here I thought I'd made it really obvious."

"What, that you're a jerk? Yeah, that _is_ pretty clear."

"I'm not trying to—"

"Prove you're better than me? Of course not." Sharpay's sarcasm had never been particularly subtle.

"Shar, look."

"I don't care if you think you're helping," Sharpay cut him off, and if they were closer to school Ryan would step out of the car at the next stoplight, but they're not, and Ryan doesn't want to have to walk that far. "You're not."

Ryan would usually push more, but he knew that if he went too far Sharpay wouldn't hesitate to make him get out of the car, and he'd already decided he'd rather not walk it. "I'm not doing this for you," he said. "It's for me," he said instead.

Sharpay scoffed. "It better not be," she said. "Gabriella? I would never forgive you. Never."

Ryan shrugged.

* * *

"What, Zeke, you think the fact that I like hip hop gives me some secret insight into the mind of all dancers?"

When Martha put it like that, Zeke could admit to himself that it sounded silly. Fortunately he wasn't stuck with the awkward silence for long, as Taylor wandered over from Gabriella and their completed experiment.

"How's it going?" Taylor asked Martha, while Zeke realized that they still didn't have the copper sulfate that was needed for the first step, and walked to the front of the room to grab some.

"Not very well," Martha confided. "Unless wanting to strangle your lab partner is a good sign."

Taylor laughed. "Probably not, no. Do you want my help or me to distract him?"

"Distraction. Please. I'd have no problem with the procedure if he'd just stop asking me annoying questions."

"Annoying questions?"

"Very much so."

Taylor spun around to take the test tube full of copper sulfate out of Zeke's hands as he returned. She handed the test tube to Martha, before returning to look at Zeke.

Fortunately she didn't have to think of a way to distract him, because he spoke first. "Hey, Taylor! You're friends with Gabriella, right? Who's kind of friends with Ryan."

"I really don't think discussing Ryan is the best idea right now. Particularly not Ryan and Gabriella." Taylor shot a glance at the lab table she had left Gabriella sitting at.

"What's up?" Zeke asked.

"You didn't hear?" Taylor asked. "Apparently Ryan _allegedly_ has a crush on Gabriella. Which is kind of sweet and hopeless and all, except that I'd bet you good money Sharpay put him up to this."

"Could that be why they aren't speaking?"

"Who?"

"Ryan and Sharpay. I tried to give him cookies to bring to her, but Ryan as much as said she wouldn't take them if he'd had a hand in the delivery."

"Huh," Taylor said. "That doesn't really make sense."

* * *

**Friday**

"How'd you get so smart?" Gabriella asked, lining her back up with the wall and sinking to the ground.

"Hmm?" Kelsi said, breaking off the piece she had been playing and swiveling around on the piano bench to look at Gabi. "What do you mean?"

"Or did you know Ryan had a crush on me before everyone else did?"

"Ryan has a crush on you?" Kelsi cried.

"You don't have to sound so disbelieving." Gabriella pouted.

"I'm not, it's just a lot to take in. Are you sure?"

"Well apparently Ryan told Chad, who told Taylor who told Sharpay who, for reasons still unknown, decided to yell at Troy about it between passing periods. On Wednesday." Gabriella knew that Kelsi didn't talk that much with the other students, but _really_, she should make an effort to keep up with the big things.

"Ryan told _Chad?_" Kelsi turned back towards the piano to reshuffle the music.

"Well, yes. I thought it a little odd, but I guess sometimes secrets need to get out."

Kelsi hopped to her feet. "This is not good," she said.

"Well, it is making things a little awkward, but Ryan isn't Sharpay. He seems offended by the very notion I would let this hurt my relationship with Troy."

"I have to go," Kelsi muttered, racing out of the room and leaving Gabriella sitting on the floor, confused.

* * *

"What are you doing here?" Taylor hissed at Ryan as he attempted to squeeze past her to find a seat. Needless to say, she wasn't about to let him do that when she had a perfectly fine seat on the bleachers next to her, and he had questions to answer.

"I could ask the same of you."

"To get you to answer some questions you've been avoiding. Your turn."

Ryan settled in next to her and glanced around the gym, as if looking for someone.

"What, you came here hoping to catch a glimpse of Gabi?" Taylor snorted. "That's a little bit pathetic."

"Not as pathetic as coming to a basketball game just to interrogate the guy who has a perfectly harmless crush on your best friend," Ryan spat back at her.

"And who's breaking my other friend's heart. Or is it that easy for you to forget about Chad?"

Ryan winced at that, but he recovered quickly. "Is that why you're here?" he asked. "Because you still haven't gotten over your crush on him?"

"You're hardly one to speak," Taylor replied calmly.

"I don't, I'm not, Chad's—" Ryan spluttered.

"I meant Gabi."

"Oh."

"Want to talk to me?" Taylor asked once she'd given Ryan a little time.

"Not really," he said, suddenly becoming all-too-conveniently enthralled in the opening moves of the basketball game.

"Want me to yell at your sister for you?"

"Yes," Ryan said, then started shaking his head vigorously, looking away from the game to peer solemnly at her. "Not for the reasons you think. For reasons which you will never ever know because then she really would kill me. And that would be sad."

"Not the reasons I think?" Taylor asked, with a nod toward the basketball court and Troy Bolton.

"Yeah. Not those reasons at all. Because trust me, whatever might seem the case, she's very happy to see those two stay a couple. Except for the part where they're sickeningly sweet. That part just can't be healthy."

"So she didn't put you up to, quote, having a crush on Gabriella Montez, end quote."

"First of all, I never said those words. Also: no. Not at all. Trust me, she'd be so much happier if I didn't have a crush on Gabi."

"But you don't."

"No," Ryan said so earnestly that Taylor might have believed him, if it didn't make such little sense. "I do."

"You're majorly confusing me."

"That's okay. You don't have to understand. Just know that I'm really not trying to hurt _anyone_. Particularly not myself, which is why this will all work out for the best. It has to."

* * *

**Sunday, Week Two**

"Are we going to keep talking, or do you actually want to shoot some baskets?" Chad asked.

"I don't know, man, I was kind of hoping to hang out with Gabriella today," Troy replied.

"And the day is still young. Plus, Gabi has something to do with her mom for at least an hour. Think of how many hoops you could shoot in that time." Chad let Troy think that over for a few seconds before continuing. "None, since I'm amazing at blocking. Me, on the other hand..."

* * *

"Ducky, you want to tell me why you and your sister aren't talking?"

Ryan shook his head at his mother.

"School alright?"

"Yeah, it's a lot like usual." Ryan did his best to stay noncommittal. That was always the best approach to dealing with his parents. He still had to do his best to _appear_ cooperative, otherwise they'd call up Dr. Cednez. Ryan didn't care for the psychiatrist much.

"Your classes aren't too hard?"

"No, they're not."

"And your classmates aren't picking on you?"

"No, they're not."

"Then what's up?"

"I think you should ask Sharpay that. It's not really my business to tell. Or better yet, you should get Dad to have the talk with her about how you'll both love her like the little princess she is no matter what she's done wrong, or thinks she's done wrong." That talk was always the most awkward thing ever, and Ryan found a great amount of pleasure in inflicting it on Sharpay as often as possible.

* * *

**Monday**

Ryan stuffed the backpack his mother had insisted the chauffeur ensure he had into his locker as quickly as he could, before heading off for somewhere Sharpay wasn't likely to go. Which, unfortunately, ruled out the lunch room, the entire theater wing, and the hallway.

Feeling the need to move somewhere, and fast, Ryan headed for the library, figuring it couldn't be too crowded before school.

He was even mostly right about that, but regretfully the people who had, for reasons unknown, chosen to settle in the library, weren't exactly the people he most wanted to talk to. Or, really, wanted to talk to at all. He needed to maintain his poise until Sharpay admitted that she felt comfortable and was grateful to him, and that he was just the best brother ever. Which he totally was.

And being in the same room as Troy and Gabriella, and Chad was not going to help him maintain his poise.

Not at all.

Ryan decided on his backup plan.

* * *

"Ryan!" Kelsi instinctively grinned at him when she entered the room, before remembering that apparently he had been having conversations without telling her about them, and that he'd said something really stupid.

"Hi," Ryan replied. "Mind if I hide here for a while?"

"I don't," Kelsi replied carefully. "Though it depends who you're hiding from. If it's me, I wouldn't necessarily recommend this room."

Ryan let a small smile slip out. "Not you. Just my sister. And the entire rest of the school. But mostly Sharpay."

"Then you should be good here. She hardly ever ventures into my lair. Unless she wants music changed. And if she tries to pull that now, so help me," Kelsi trailed off. "I'll probably hide and hope that whatever is going on between you two distracts her while I sneak away."

"That plan is both remarkably detailed and astonishingly passive-aggressive," Ryan commented.

Kelsi grinned at him, pleased. "I know. I almost want to have to implement it. Except for the part where your sister scares me."

"You should try standing up to her."

"Like you?"

"Only hopefully with more backbone," Ryan agreed.

Kelsi giggled, before reaching up to adjust her hat. "Sharpay would eat me alive."

Ryan shrugged. "Probably not. Sometimes she can surprise you." Kelsi would pay good money, well, good money to _her_, probably not to him, to know what was running through Ryan's head.

"Point the first that we need to address," Kelsi started, pointing her finger at Ryan before she realized that she probably didn't actually want to do that and dropping her hand into her lap. "You're gay."

"Bisexual," Ryan protested.

"Gay," Kelsi repeated firmly. "You can't own as many hats as you do and not be completely gay."

"Wearing hats doesn't make me gay."

"It doesn't?" Kelsi did her best to look distraught, and snatched off her own hat to check the label. "I could have sworn there was some kind of manufacturer's guarantee on these things."

Ryan snorted. "It makes me stylish. Is that why _you_ wear hats?"

"That and the fact that they add about an inch to my height," Kelsi cheerily agreed. "But I think you're getting distracted from the important stuff."

"Which is?"

* * *

"Look, Gabi, you know I trust you."

"Of course Troy, but sometimes I just feel like that's not enough for you."

Chad rolled his eyes at the both of them, not that they were paying him much attention, and wished that he'd actually done his math homework so he didn't have to sit with the two lovebirds in the library trying to finish it now.

Taylor had said Ryan had called them sickeningly sweet, and Chad had to agree with that.

Not that agreeing with Ryan really helped at all. Except that it made him more angry than bored. Not at Ryan, Chad couldn't be angry with Ryan, but more...at the universe. Because it was really unfair of the universe to expect Chad, who had just thought he'd figured everything out, to cope with being told that, in fact, the campest boy in school was actually not a hundred percent gay after all. Not even 50%. More like 30%. Which was really much too much math for a high school relationship.

And then to thrust in his face the kind of happiness that Gabriella and Troy had. It really was much too much.

"I'm gay," Chad blurted out, and didn't even feel too guilty at the way Gabi and Troy sprang apart and instantly focused on him. After all, Taylor had told him he should do this, and even if he couldn't have a proper relationship with Taylor, couldn't give her what she deserved, he could still listen to her advice.

* * *

"Point the second. You are 'more than mildly' attracted to Chad Danforth. And don't think you get to try to deny it until I'm finished talking this point through." Kelsi stared at Ryan until he nodded, and then she continued. "You've been going to basketball games. And track and field meets. You lit up like a lantern fish when he came to the last musical, even though you know he was only there because Troy asked him to, and Troy was only there because Gabriella wanted to go. You seriously contemplated joining the baseball team. For _him_. Okay."

"Okay?" Ryan asked after a pause.

"You can talk now."

"Fine." Ryan sighed. "How many professional basketball players do you know who are gay?"

"Do I know personally?" Kelsi snorted. "None. That I know of? Four. Maybe more I have my suspicions about. Why, you're worried about Chad's reputation if he comes out?"

"I'm just pointing out that it's statistically incredibly unlikely that he's gay."

"Sure. Because the statistics on gay, _particularly_ closeted, men in high school basketball are identical to those in the NBA. Mmm hmm."

"Why do you have to know so much about basketball?" Ryan said.

"I would think a lot of people would. All those sexy men."

"You're the only lesbian I know who cares that much."

Kelsi giggled. "And how many lesbians do you know?"

"Two. Counting you."

"Really? You've been holding out on me."

"Did you have a third point, or are we done?"

"Right."

* * *

Gabriella glanced at Troy quickly, all her upset at him vanishing in the wake of this new revelation.

Chad shrugged when she looked at him. "You've been asking me what's up," he said to Troy. "I thought I'd answer that question."

"Is that why you broke up with Taylor?" Gabriella asked when it became clear Troy wasn't going to talk.

Chad shot her a grateful look. "It was more of a mutual break-up, but yes. And I told her that at the time."

"There anyone you like?" Gabriella asked, wishing Troy would say _something_ to make this seem less like an interrogation, but she would rather it be an interrogation than a lot of awkward silence.

Chad bit his lip. "No. There's not."

Gabriella made a note to ask him about it later, when Troy wasn't around. Or to ask Taylor.

* * *

"Point the third," Kelsi continued. "You do not and never have had a crush on Gabriella Montez. I could point to my earlier points to prove this, but I'm not going to do that, because I don't have to."

Kelsi was very satisfied with herself when Ryan didn't even protest. "Simply put, you love it when other people are happy. So if you did have a crush on Gabriella, nothing would make you actually admit to it. Even to Chad.

"Which means there must be some other reason that you told Chad you did."

Kelsi stared at Ryan until he gave her a fractional nod. Good enough. "My best guess is that he got angry and accused you of hitting on him. And, in your panic, you decided to give up everything you've been for as long as I've known you and pretended to have a crush on Gabriella so he would still feel fine with hanging out with you."

Kelsi adjusted her hat. "I don't need you to confirm that if you don't want to."

* * *

"Coach, you here?"

"Yes?" Coach Bolton looked up from his desk as Chad entered.

"Right," Chad said. "I just stopped by, because I thought you should hear this from me rather than from your son. And Troy's awful at keeping secrets, so there's no way you wouldn't end up knowing. I'll totally understand if you want me to leave the team. Well. I won't understand, but I will sympathize. You will have complete sympathy from me. No resentment."

"Chad," Coach snapped.

"Yes?"

"What are you trying to tell me?"

"Just, you know."

"No, I don't."

"Right. Of course not." Chad contemplated just leaving it there and letting the coach hear it from his son, but he really didn't think it was fair to Troy to do that. "I like guys. That is to say, I'm gay."

"And how long has this been going on?" Couch Bolton asked.

"How long?" Chad sputtered, not expecting the question. "My whole life, I suspect."

"And has it affected your playing? Ever?"

"No."

"Then why would I kick you off the team? If you want to quit, that's entirely up to you, but I'm not going to play a part in losing one of my most dedicated players."

* * *

"Point the fourth: this is Sharpay's fault."

"Why does everyone always jump to that conclusion?" Ryan protested.

"Because it's usually true. Now, for whatever reason, it looks like Sharpay's not actually trying to break Troy and Gabriella up this time. I doubt she could enlist your help in that anyway. I like to hope you learned something last summer."

Ryan nodded. "I learned a lot."

"Good. But just because that's not what Sharpay's up to doesn't mean she doesn't have some other plan."

"She doesn't have a plan."

"But you do?"

Ryan reluctantly bobbed his head.

"And it has to do with her?"

"In a way, yes. But she doesn't approve of it, for what that's worth."

* * *

Zeke made a beeline for his locker as soon as he arrived at school, since he had to store his baked goods before people pounced on him and demanded, or asked very nicely, that he share. He was surprised to find Taylor waiting in front of it. "Here," he said, handing her the top tupperware container of cookies. He was surprised, and pleased, when she didn't immediately leave with it.

"I just thought I'd let you know before it got to you through the usual gossip channels. Chad's gay."

"Oh." Zeke paused in the middle of opening his locker and set the rest of the tupperware containers on the floor. He took back the one he had given to Taylor and handed her a different one. "I'll probably want to give these to him then."

"Hmm?"

Zeke opened the container to show her the cookies, artfully decorated with rainbow sprinkles.

Taylor giggled, feeling the tension seep out of her with Zeke's reaction and the presence of the cookies.

* * *

"Point the fifth: You wore that hat last Tuesday."

Ryan gaped at her for a few seconds before snatching the hat off and staring at it.

Kelsi giggled. "Not really."

Ryan carefully repositioned his hat and glared.

"But your face was hilarious. _Absolutely_ worth it."

* * *

"Troy?" Gabriella prodded him gently, afraid of what he was going to say.

"Yeah?"

"Right now is when Chad needs your support most, so don't—"

"I know. Well, not really. When he probably needed my support most was last week, but I wasn't really there. So if you don't mind, I'm going to go now and talk to him. Be supportive," he assured when she looked worried.

Gabriella grinned at Troy as he left, proud of the way he was handling this. Then she glanced at her watch and decided she'd best start packing up all the stuff he and Chad had left behind if she wanted to get to class on time.

* * *

"In case you couldn't tell, I actually don't have anything else," Kesli said. "However if you'd like to confirm or deny anything, I'd be happy to listen to you."

Ryan would have been content to glare at her until she apologized, but Sharpay came running in, looking for him.

"Ryan," she blurted. "Danforth's gay."

"Oh?" Ryan did his best to look appropriated shocked and pleased.

"Yeah. So maybe you should go offer to help him with that."

Kelsi stared at Sharpay, like she couldn't believe the other girl had just said that. Ryan knew he looked a little like he wanted to cry, but instead he forced a laugh. "Pity I'm desperately pining after Gabriella," he said instead. "I better go mope about that."

"Ryan!"

* * *

Ryan slipped into homeroom twenty seconds before the bell rang and slunk into his seat without making eye contact with anyone, particularly not his sister. He quickly realized that no one was paying attention to him anyway, they were all focused on Chad.

Even Sharpay, the one time Ryan snuck a look at her, was eerily focused on Chad.

Ryan shook his head and focused on ignoring the basketball player, and copying down whatever instructions Ms. Darbus had. Or just whatever she said in general, no matter how useless it was.

"As the weather gets colder, everyone should keep in mind that these days less daylight does not actually mean less time for working on what's important. Since the invention of artificial light, humanity has become more and more productive, and I hate to think that you're not going to contribute to that."

Ryan frowned, and wrote down 'winter', 'light-bulbs', and 'do homework'.

* * *

The bell for the end of homeroom rang, and Sharpay hopped out of her desk to stand near Chad's. "Danforth. I want to talk to you."

"Sure," Chad said. He glanced once back at Ryan, who was still sitting in his desk, staring at his notebook, before exiting the classroom and waiting in the hall for Sharpay.

"I'm going to make this all right," she told him, and Chad blinked. "Not because I have to, or because it benefits me, but because Ryan really wants me to. So you better make damn sure you're worth it."

With that, and a flounce, she walked down the hallway, leaving Chad standing outside the classroom.

Chad walked back to the doorway of it to see Ryan still sitting at his desk. "Uh," he said, wishing he were more coherent. "You probably have a class to get to."

"Yeah. I'm sorry." Ryan stood up, and without saying anything more he brushed past Chad and out the door.

Chad had to struggle to remind himself that he had class and all and couldn't just stand there, staring after Ryan.

* * *

Sharpay held her tongue for as long as she could, but the only reason she lasted until lunch without breaking and yelling at him was that she didn't have third or fourth period with Ryan. And she had to spend the first twenty minutes of lunch putting in an appearance, so no one would think anything was up with _her_.

"Can we talk?" she asked Ryan when they'd both smiled their way through their sandwiches.

"Sure," he said, and suddenly so self-satisfied that Sharpay was tempted to take her decision back. "Drama room?"

They walked in silence to the room, and arrived to find it empty. As it should be.

"Your point has not been proven," Sharpay started as soon as the door was shut. "But that doesn't mean it can't be. Just not by you."

"What do you mean?"

"What better way to prove that everything could be okay than to have an openly gay basketball player? And to have him be a success?"

"Oh," Ryan said, and she could see him thinking about the inevitably best way to have Chad embrace his position as icon for the gay community at East.

Good.

* * *

Chad did his best to take Coach Bolton's advice and not let his personal life affect his practice performance, but he kept getting stuck on trying to figure out what Sharpay had meant. Judging from her smugness, she thought she was helping him, but Chad couldn't figure out how.

Unless Ryan didn't actually have a crush on Gabriella...

But no.

Why would he lie about that?

And why would he lie about that to Chad? Chad had thought they were friends.

"Are you alright?" Troy asked when Chad absentmindedly passed the ball to Jason, and Chad frowned.

"Yeah, fine," Chad said, and did his best to shake his thoughts loose. If Troy was noticing something Chad must be really out of it. Which wasn't such a good start to his first practice after he'd come out. With one final thought of Ryan, Chad plunged himself into the practice.

* * *

**Tuesday**

Chad arrived at his locker to find it decked out in rainbow banners and he wasn't sure, until he spotted Jason standing at the side with an incredibly sincere smile, whether they were put up to be supportive or to mock him.

"Morning man," Zeke greeted from the other side of the locker, presenting Chad with a cake. A cake with five layers, in red, yellow, green, blue, and purple, white frosting, and multicolored sprinkles.

"Uh, thanks," Chad said, accepting the plate and wondering if he could fit it in his locker without it spilling, or if he'd have to make the sacrifice and eat it now. "You really didn't have to."

"It's cool," Zeke replied. "The recipe for the cake was something I've been wanting to try."

"It looks delicious," Chad said, still skeptically regarding the banners.

"Those were Troy's idea," Jason volunteered.

"Or, well, Gabriella's," Zeke said.

Chad nodded, and ripped them off a little less vehemently than he had originally planned to. He wanted them off his locker all the same, though. "Can you throw these away?" He handed the discarded banners to Jason, who took off towards a garbage can, not the nearest one, mind, with them.

* * *

Sharpay strolled into school like the only reason she didn't own it was that she didn't really want to, which was, technically, true. She could feel Ryan walking behind her, and, without giving him a chance to protest, she walked up to Chad's locker.

"Zeke, can I talk to you for a minute?" she asked.

"Sure," he said, a little more distantly than she would have liked to hear.

Still, the purpose of this particular conversation was not to enjoy being worshipped, but to leave Chad and Ryan talking at Chad's locker, so Sharpay could consider that a success already.

"You wanted to say something?" Zeke asked.

"Yeah," Sharpay said, considering for a second. Something was currently very wrong. "You didn't bake me anything?"

"Sorry," Zeke said, more confidently than he usually was around her. "I didn't have time."

"Hmm." Sharpay raised an eyebrow to let him know what she thought of _that_ excuse.

* * *

"Awesome." Ryan leaned on the locker next to Chad's.

Chad glanced up at Ryan, then back at his books. "Zeke made it."

Ryan shrugged awkwardly. "I meant you, but the cake looks good too. Guess I should have waited until senior year to come out too."

Ryan could feel Chad's plastered-on grin slip a little. "What, your father didn't throw you a huge, expensive party?"

Ryan bit his lip. "That would indicate approval, or acceptance, or something other than disappointment."

"Shit. I'm sorry."

"Not your fault."

"Still."

"I'm only theoretically bisexual," Ryan blurted out, before he could think better of saying it, or at least think better of saying it _here_, in the middle of the busiest hallway in the school. "Mostly because my father would be so disappointed if we couldn't talk about girls, or if I couldn't imagine myself with a girl. So...yeah."

Chad took his history book out of his locker and looked at Ryan. "What about Gabriella?"

"I don't...I never had a crush on her. I just said I thought she was cute."

"Yeah?" Chad looked momentarily insecure.

"She is. In a Belle kind of way. But you're more Tiernan from the Pirate Queen. At least when played by Hadley Fraser."

"Hmm?"

Right. Chad wouldn't necessarily be familiar with that reference. "Devastatingly attractive," Ryan explained.

* * *

"What happened?" Taylor asked Chad during history. He'd been insuppressibly happy from homeroom on, but she hadn't really had a chance to talk to him until now.

"Ryan talked to me this morning."

"Oh?" Taylor knew this had to be good news, but she still couldn't figure out what Ryan could say that would make up for his earlier complete dismissal of Chad.

"He compared me to Hadley Fraser."

"Who?"

"Exactly!"

Then again, Taylor wasn't subject to the same whims as teenage boys. "No, seriously, what does that mean?"

Of course, Mrs. Topf chose that moment to enforce discipline. "Class, please. There is no historical evidence that senioritis is anything but a recent phenomenon, and, as such, it has no place in my classroom. I expect you all to be paying attention."

* * *

"Did you ask him out?" Sharpay asked her twin during their dress rehearsal.

"No, I might have gotten distracted. By his eyes," Ryan confessed. Sharpay was pretty sure he was being deliberately melodramatic, but she wasn't sure.

Sharpay rolled her eyes. "You can't do anything on your own, can you? Just when you talk to him next, remember to ask him out. Because, really, you'd be doing the whole school a favor. And me."

"Right." Ryan clearly swallowed her line, which was good because Sharpay wasn't sure what she was supposed to do if this hadn't worked. It simply wasn't dignified for an Evans to wallow in the awkward first stages of a relationship, and she was doing her sisterly duty by helping Ryan speed through that.

* * *

**Wednesday**

Ryan was waiting outside Chad's locker when the basketball player entered school in the morning, and from the looks of it he had been waiting a while. "Can I talk to you?"

Chad nodded.

"Good. Look, I understand that this is really last minute and on a weeknight. But I was wondering if you had plans for tomorrow night."

"Just a ticket to the show."

"You were going to come see it anyway?" Ryan asked, and Chad couldn't tell if he looked completely thrilled or quite the opposite.

"Yeah." Chad had never before noticed just how interesting Ryan's shoes were. If Ryan usually wore the same shoes, and Chad would be surprised if that were true.

"Okay." Ryan recovered from whatever he had been feeling, and was back acting more confident and Ryan-like. "The show should be done by seven-thirty, and I won't have eaten anything since at least three, since Sharpay doesn't like to eat anything before shows. So I was wondering if you'd like to go out with me afterwards. To dinner."

Chad nodded. "Yes. I would."

Ryan grinned at him. "Fantastic. I'll see you then! As well as before then, in classes, obviously."

Chad smiled back. "Obviously."

* * *

"I was just wondering," Taylor said, taking advantage of the five minutes before the warning bell and the actual start of homeroom to talk, "If there was a particular reason you were originally going to give me Chad's rainbow cookies."

Zeke dropped his head. "It's not that I thought...It's just that you wear an awful lot of rainbows. And the first time I really noticed you, you were wearing a rainbow shirt."

"Oh," Taylor said. "That's actually really nice."

* * *

Tomorrow was the opening night of their show, and Sharpay felt like she should be nervous or panicking, but she wasn't. She knew she had her part down beautifully and she was mostly convinced that the rest of the students wouldn't mess up too badly. And if they did she would be able to redeem the show.

Tomorrow she would be running around, fixing everyone's costumes and bracing herself for the event, but today was calm. Today was a chance to enjoy being the star.

"Come see the musical tomorrow," she cheerily told Gabriella, before she realized who the other girl was.

Gabriella took the flyer Sharpay was still holding out. "Yeah, it sounds majorly interesting. Janet was saying you that much of the cast had to learn British accents? Was that hard?"

Sharpay gave a dismissive shrug. "Janet is a _rat_."

"I guess not for you, then," Gabriella said, with another wide smile. "Anyway, I should probably get going. I look forward to seeing you shine tomorrow, though."

Sharpay frowned. She didn't need Gabriella's _permission_ to shine.

* * *

"Do you know what the play's about?" Chad asked Taylor during history.

"Seventeenth century London, I think? And probably a plague."

Chad chuckled. "I think plague's a given. London? That means they'll all have British accents?"

"Logically, yes. But it depends on whether Sharpay decides to go for accuracy or flair."

"Oh. Right."

"Of course, there's always a chance that she'll think they satisfy the latter."

Chad nodded. "London, seventeenth century, and plague? That's all you know?"

"It's not actually a historical musical, Chad. And Sharpay's flyers," Taylor waved the one she'd been given at him, "Aren't heavy on the detail."

"I guess it'll be a surprise, then." Chad looked pleased about that, and Taylor wondered why he'd been pestering her for details in the first place.

* * *

**Thursday**

"I hope you're all planning to go to the musicale's premiere this afternoon. It's a great educational opportunity for you all, and you could do with more culture." Ms. Darbus perched on her seat in front of the class, earnestly peering at all of them.

"And you all have two of the stars in the class. Ryan Evans is playing Clive Hucklefish, the young man who comes to London to fulfill his dreams of being an actor. And Sharpay Evans plays Isabella, the Alchemist's daughter. Yes, Janet?"

"I'm in the musical too."

"Yes, yes you are. And what do you play, dear?"

"One of the Rat King's minions."

Chad shot a glance at Taylor, who shrugged. He tried to catch Ryan's eye, but the other boy just grinned at Chad. "Wait and see," he mouthed.

Chad turned back to the notebook in front of him, curious and relieved that at least he wasn't expected to know all about the musical already. It clearly wasn't very famous.

* * *

The opening scene surprised Taylor. Rather than showing an idealized seventeenth century London, so far the actors seemed to be taking great delight in painting the dirty underside of London. "Oh London town," one character cheerily remarked, "Oh stinking town."

Taylor giggled when the mayor of London appeared and excused his outrageous expenses on the fact that he hated the French. This clearly wasn't a historically accurate portrayal of London, but it was significantly less glitzy than she would have expected from the Evans twins.

And she was enjoying it immensely.

* * *

Kelsi was more than a little miffed that Sharpay apparently didn't trust her to get the music right, and had insisted on prerecording the orchestral part. She had thought her relationship with Sharpay had been improving over the last few weeks, but that must just have been her hopes speaking a little too strongly. She should keep an eye on that, it could end up being dangerous.

Although it _was_ pretty nice to sit back and watch something she'd had such a large part in creating come to life. Ryan had been the one to choose the musical and contact the original writers for permission and the book, but Kelsi was proud of the part she'd played in helping to adapt it into a musical that could actually be put on in the high school auditorium.

Kelsi grinned as the alchemist came onstage. The sophomore playing him, Sashi, had taken a number of her suggestions over Sharpay's, and Kelsi was pleased that he'd ditched the pointy hat Sharpay had insisted he wear all through the dress rehearsals. All the hat had done was clash with the already garish and sparkly red robes.

He and the undertaker flung their incredibly pg and laughably lame insults at each other, each staggering back at every turn. Kelsi glanced around the audience, pleased at their grins and laughs. Ryan had been right; the musical, despite the unnecessarily complicated plot, appealed to the high school students.

And some of the things Sharpay had suggested were what were going over the best. High schoolers didn't want high art, they wanted entertainment, and Sharpay was an expert at that.

* * *

Gabriella giggled as the character of Jerry, she hadn't a clue who was playing him, sang about his rise within Turner's Turnips, and then his fall to the apparently rather clever rats. Jerry reminded Gabriella of Troy, smart in all the ways that mattered, but clueless about all the others.

"We should have auditioned for the musical," she leaned over and whispered to Troy.

"Sharpay would have really killed us."

"Not the leads, silly," she said. "But you could have been Jerry, and I'd be Milly." Jerry and Milly weren't a couple, but Gabriella was already dating Troy. She didn't need to have an imagined relationship with him.

Troy shrugged, but Gabriella continued to watch the production enviously. It looked like so much fun.

* * *

"A beggar has a dream, don't you know sir, that there's people who give a care in this land."

Zeke found himself watching the play for its storyline, rather than for glimpses of Sharpay, or her character, Isabella. Which was, frankly, a relief. Zeke had convinced himself that he wasn't really interested in Sharpay anymore, and it was good to know he wasn't lying to himself.

Seeing her go after Troy just because she thought he was the only one high enough in the social sphere of the school to deserve her had both alienated him from Sharpay and made Zeke evaluate his own actions. How much of his attraction to Sharpay had been based on the fact that she was so very aloof?

Zeke watched the beggars dance around the stage, grateful for the penny Clive had just given them. Despite the earlier painted harsh realities of life in London, the beggars seemed to be the happiest people around.

They seemed to appreciate the money less than the gesture of kindness it represented.

* * *

"I wonder if she feels the same as me," Ryan sang, and it was weird to see him when he wasn't wearing a hat, Chad thought. "Or does she think I'm gay?" Chad snickered softly, but was a little put off when he heard the freshmen in front of him chortling. They didn't have a right to do that, they didn't even _know_ Ryan.

And yes, okay, it was quite a few kinds of weird to see Sharpay and Ryan play characters who were romantically interested in each other, but that was an easily dismissible weird.

Ryan was still hatless, and Chad was starting to feel uncomfortable with that. He supposed _Clive_ didn't need a hat, and probably couldn't afford much of one, but it was still strange.

Chad had seen at least one of the musical productions every year (in the past forced by his mother, who agreed with Ms. Darbus that a little culture was clearly what every teenage boy needed), and in every production, in every role, Ryan had been wearing a hat. Chad was sure that a hat could have been written in for the character, if someone had just given a little more effort.

* * *

Ms. Darbus stood up to announce Intermission, and Chad had stood up to head for the hallway with the other audience members when his attention was caught by Ryan heading toward him. The other boy had found a hat, but apart from that he was still wearing the costume from the scene he had just finished.

"Ryan! Shouldn't you be backstage or something?"

Ryan shrugged. "Sharpay's having a meltdown."

"Not that it's not nice to see you here," Chad said, "but wouldn't you be potentially useful to help with that?"

"Not in this case. I kind of caused this one."

"Whoa." Chad lifted an eyebrow. "What'd you do?"

"Implied that a decision she made was motivated by certain personal feelings, and ran counter to the interests of the performance."

"Isn't that how your sister makes most of her decisions?"

Ryan shook his head. "True, much of the time her opinions on the two coincide, but...she's more complicated than you think. And I just convinced her she made a mistake."

* * *

Sharpay scowled at the crowd, wishing the person she was looking for wasn't quite so short. Then again, if Kelsi wasn't short, would she really be Kelsi?

Sharpay tried to remember what hat Kelsi had been wearing that morning, because unlike Ryan she didn't seem to have a habit of changing them whenever she could. Sharpay spotted the black and white checkered hat after a while, and headed toward it.

"Kelsi, we need to talk."

Kelsi's eyes widened before she schooled her expression. "Okay."

"You ready to play for the second half of the show?" Sharpay asked.

"Wait, what?"

"So I might have misspoken when I said we'd do better without you."

"Why?"

Sharpay stared at her. "Why?" she repeated.

Kelsi took a deep breath. "Yes. If it's genuinely not true, why did you say it in the first place?"

* * *

Taylor left her auditorium seat to stand out in the hallway. The school looked so different in the evening, filled with people who weren't rushing to class, but were instead relaxing and enjoying themselves. They all wanted to be where they were.

"Zeke," she said, waving cheerily at him, before realizing that he wouldn't want to be distracted.

"Taylor!" he shouted back, making his way towards her. "Hey!"

She stood still to let him make his way through the crowd to her. "Hi. I haven't seen Sharpay recently."

"Sharpay?" His brow furrowed. "I wasn't looking for her."

"You weren't."

"No."

"Oh." Taylor smiled slightly at him. "So, why are you here then?"

"Extra credit for my English class."

"Ah, nice. What do you think of the play so far?"

* * *

"I'm not going to agree to return to the show until I know why you kicked me out in the first place," Kelsi said, wishing she was drunk so she could excuse her brashness on alcohol. As it was, all she had was attraction and the fact that she was finally at the end of her patience.

"Can we take this discussion somewhere more private?" Sharpay asked, and Kelsi would swear the other girl looked nervous, if she didn't know for sure that that couldn't be the case.

"What do we need privacy for?" Kelsi let her gaze comb the other girl and smirked. Inside she was sure she was dying, but right now adrenaline was carrying her as far as she wanted to go. There was a reason she had avoided confrontation of any type with Sharpay for so long.

Sharpay didn't say anything, just grabbed Kelsi's arm and half-dragged the other girl behind the stage, into her private dressing room. As soon as she had the door shut she released Kelsi's arm in favor of pushing her against the wall and leaning forward to push her mouth against Kelsi's.

Kelsi melted against the wall just long enough for Sharpay to get over-confident, then pushed back. She took a quick gasp of air as she pushed Sharpay across the small room, then resumed the kiss when Sharpay's back hit the wall.

* * *

"If you think it's been bizarre so far, just wait for the second act." Ryan bounced on the balls of his feet.

"It gets stranger than the Philosopher's Gnome and a plan to spite the undertaker by granting immortality to everyone who lives in London?"

Ryan grinned in anticipation of what Chad would have to talk about at the end. "Two words: mobster rats."

"_How_ mobster?" Chad asked.

"Very." Ryan glanced at the clock hanging in the hallway and sighed. "Now I should probably get going, in case Sharpay _does_ decide I'm necessary, and so I can change costume for the next scene. But we're still on for afterwards, right?"

Chad grinned. "Definitely."

* * *

Taylor laughed when Zeke started shuffling in an imitation of the alchemist's dance, and rolling his hands while chanting. "You should have tried out for the musical," she told him.

The effect on Zeke was immediate; he stopped dancing. "No time," he said abruptly.

"Oh. Sorry."

"Yeah. Maybe now that I'm not chasing after Sharpay though, I'll have back all the time I'd otherwise lose trying to impress her."

"You've given up on Sharpay?" Taylor asked, grinning. The drama queen had never been worth Zeke's time.

"Turns out I was more interested in the platonic ideal of Sharpay than the actual person," Zeke admitted.

"_Now_ who are you trying to impress?"

Zeke laughed.

* * *

Ryan paced the hallway outside his sister's dressing room, wondering why she wasn't out yet. Or, perhaps more likely, why she wasn't screaming for his help in adjusting her hair. Perhaps she had forgotten that intermission ended in five minutes, although Ryan didn't think that was very possible. Most probably, she was just waiting for him to apologize.

With a sigh, he knocked lightly at the door.

He heard a scramble and a thud.

"Shar?" he called hesitantly.

"Yes." She sounded annoyed, which wasn't really a surprise.

"Curtain goes up in five minutes."

"Oh," came a muffled response. "Am I in the first scene?"

"Yes."

"Damn."

"You okay?" Ryan asked.

"Yeah, fine. I'll be out in three minutes."

"Alright."

"Maybe four."

* * *

Sharpay was distracted and anxious during their scene, which was really the opposite of what her character was supposed to be doing, but Ryan worked with what she gave him as best as he could, while he waited for her to stop feeling whatever emotions were hurting her performance.

He was annoyed that the music was still prerecorded, he'd really thought he had gotten through to Sharpay when he talked to her during the break. Perhaps Kelsi had finally grown that backbone everyone was waiting for, and refused.

Since Sharpay was playing Isabella as anxious, Ryan moved Clive's defensiveness up a notch, and he thought the audience probably couldn't tell anything was out of place. Ryan vowed to talk to Sharpay about it sometime before the next performance, but for now he had to go with the flow.

She exited the stage, and the rat mafia semi-abducted him. Ryan dropped all thoughts of his sister out of his head and embraced the part of heartbroken Clive.

* * *

Chad couldn't _not_ laugh. Yes, he'd been warned, and didn't that give him a warm glow, but even warning wasn't enough to cope with seeing the ridiculousness of super-intelligent 'rats' dressed in pinstripes, ties, and hats.

This was the most hilarious musical he thought East High had ever put on, certainly that he had seen. And Sharpay and Ryan were _good_. Not so much in the romantic scenes they had together, because the chemistry just wasn't there, which was probably for the best, but in all the other ones. They both had wonderful voices, and they could act.

Wow, could Ryan _act_.

* * *

Gabriella watched the musical, feeling a little bit in awe, and a little bit jealous. This kind of musical, with the level of uneventful happenings and coordinated dances, seemed to be just up the Evans' twins alley. Twinkle Towne had practically been written for her and Troy.

That clearly wasn't the case here, Sharpay and Ryan weren't anything like Isabella and Clive. Yet Gabriella couldn't help thinking that the roles suited them.

Although Gabriella doubted Isabella would actually be tap-dancing now, in between lying sick and helpless in the bed, dying. It seemed nothing could stop the Evans twins' flare for the dramatic.

* * *

Taylor's eyes scoured the audience as she tried to distinguish outlines of people in the dark. "Is that Kelsi's voice?" she whispered.

Zeke shrugged. "Hard to tell through the fake German accent. She's not listed in the program."

Taylor focused on the dark cowl of the character Death, before giving up. "I really can't tell."

* * *

Sharpay should probably have been backstage, instead of watching the events on stage. But Kelsi might be waiting backstage, and Sharpay wasn't up to finding out why the other girl had chosen not to grant her request. Sharpay was sure she had been so convincing. Besides, she didn't have a costume change and if she'd gone into her dressing room she would probably just end up wrecking her hair.

Her attention shifted from Ryan to the girl playing Death as she removed the hood part of her costume.

Sharpay knew the girl cast for the role was a blonde freshman, and she hadn't really cared enough to learn the girl's name. Still, she was pretty sure she could tell the difference between a nervous freshman and Kelsi. And that was definitely Kelsi on the stage now, wearing a blonde wig.

Sharpay frowned. She knew there was no way she was going to get an immediate explanation of the other girl's behavior, and that irked her.

And then it irked her a good deal less, when Kelsi took off the cloak. The outfit she'd been wearing underneath was tasteful, but it was still tighter than anything Kelsi usually put on. Sharpay couldn't figure out why; her theory had always been that people should flaunt what the had.

Sharpay gave Kelsi a slow once-over. Under the same theory, she wasn't going to be able to keep her inevitable relationship with Kelsi secret.

Oh well. East High would just have to deal.

* * *

Kelsi was too terrified of forgetting the lines she'd learned by osmosis and disappointing Ms. Darbus—or Sharpay—to really be aware of the audience, beyond knowing it was there. Since she wasn't paying any attention to the audience, it was easy to think that none of her classmates would recognize her. She was wearing a blond wig, after all, and she was putting her words through the filter of a fairly decent german accent.

In fact, the acting didn't seem to be that difficult, or all that different from how she sometimes felt at school. At least with this, at the end of the day nobody would expect her to still be Death, and to still be tentatively interested in Jerry Muldoon.

* * *

Taylor thought the musical deserved a standing ovation, for its irreverence, if nothing else. Unfortunately none of her fellow students seemed to agree with her assessment, and Taylor found herself standing by herself. As she went to sit down, feeling quite a bit embarrassed, Zeke stood.

"That was not at all what I expected," Zeke whispered at her, and she nodded. "But it was really good."

Taylor's nodding turned a little more enthusiastic, and she smiled at him.

* * *

Chad was kind of regretting not bringing flowers, because Sharpay was currently being handed some very nice ones from her parents—though she actually looked like she wasn't that interested in the accolades—but Ryan didn't have any. And it wasn't that Chad particularly wanted to give Ryan flowers; he just thought Ryan kind of deserved them.

* * *

Sharpay barely waited for the clapping to die down before stalking off the stage. She tossed the flowers in her dresser room and stood by the wings as she waited for Kelsi to reappear. It took a while, and when the other girl did show up she was back in her own clothes. She was still wearing the blond wig under her hat, though, which made Sharpay forget what she had been going to say for a couple of seconds. "What happened?" she demanded once she remembered that was what she wanted to say.

"What do you mean?" Kelsi asked.

Sharpay wanted to strangle her, but she also wanted to go back to what they had been doing during intermission. After the arguing. "You never auditioned."

"Oh, you mean playing the part of Death?" Kelsi asked, as if Sharpay would be asking about anything else. "Yeah, actually, just after I left your dressing room," and she blushed, "I ran into Ms. Darbus. I told her I was going to play the piano, but she said she needed me to do something else. It turns out that the girl who had been cast as Death-"

"Carolyn," Sharpay spat, remembering the name. Sharpay wasn't surprised that she'd somehow manage to mess up her very simple role.

"Right. She apparently freaked out and left."

Sharpay raised an eyebrow as loftily as she could. "I see. So Darbus asked you."

Kelsi smiled and nodded.

"You really should have acted in plays before this one," Sharpay said. "You're quite good."

Kelsi blushed. "Thanks, but I don't really-"

"You wouldn't have been the lead, so it's really not that high pressure. Or so I'm told." Sharpay flipped her hair over her left shoulder. "Why are you still wearing the wig, by the way?"

Kelsi shrugged. "I thought I might enjoy being Death for a little bit longer."

Sharpay frowned at the other girl. "Well don't. Go back to being Kelsi."

"Okay."

"That's all? Okay?"

"Yes."

"Hmm," Sharpay tutted. "Hey, do you want to go out to dinner with me? I think Ryan's taking Chad out, and you wouldn't want to force me to eat on my own, would you?"

Kelsi looked more than a little wide-eyed. "No, of course not."

"Excellent. I'll pick you up in half an hour from your house so we both have a chance to change." Sharpay resolutely did not glance around the hallway before leaning forward to kiss Kelsi's cheek. "I'll see you then."

Kelsi made a noise that sounded suspiciously dolphin-like, and then she nodded once, slowly. "See you then."

Sharpay smiled her most dazzling smile, then strode off to receive the glory from her parents and peers.

* * *

**Sunday, Week One**

"Sharpay, I've been wondering something."

"Yes Ry?"

"Troy Bolton really isn't that much higher up on the social ladder at our school than Zeke Baylor is. Plus Zeke bakes. And he actually likes you."

"Couldn't I just be racist?"

Ryan choked on what it was he'd planned to say. "No, I don't think that's it," he said when he'd recovered.

"Does this rambling even have a point?" Sharpay raised an eyebrow at him.

"Surely lusting after one jock, even if he's Troy, is just as beneath you as any other jock. And he very clearly lacks taste, so in that respect Zeke is certainly a more discerning individual."

"I am not _lusting_ after Troy Bolton," Sharpay sputtered.

"Maybe that's the problem," Ryan said. He'd spent quite a lot of time thinking about this, and he wasn't going to let Sharpay run away from his observations. So when she spun off to storm to her room, he followed her, catching the door when she tried to slam it.

"I'm not having this conversation with you," she informed him, lounging on her chair and leaving him the choice to either sit on her bed or stand.

"Who would you like to have it with?" Ryan asked, dropping down to sit on the floor and look up at her. "Shar, it's okay. I know. You're so fixed on Troy only because you know it will never come to anything. I don't think anyone but Troy and Gabriella can break up Troy and Gabriella now. But you haven't stopped trying. Which can only mean that you don't really care about the outcome."

"Look, Ryan. I know you mean well, but the most popular girl in East High can't be gay. It just doesn't work like that."

"But you are. And you are."

"No one has to know that, so it doesn't matter."

"Sharpay, don't you get it? This doesn't have to stop you. Being popular is in your blood and so, apparently, is liking girls. What's the big deal?"

"Maybe this is funny to you Ryan, but I'm _so_ not laughing."

"What would be funny would be if you had a crush on Gabriella Montez. Oh God, you don't, do you?"

"Puh-lease, Ryan. I'm an Evans, I have _taste_. Being a lesbian might be a big deal, but compared to having a crush on that girl? Coming out would be a piece of cake."

"Good. Then it's settled."

"Ryan! What are you thinking?"

"Nothing, sister dear. Except that I'm going to prove an Evans can survive anything."

**Author's Note:**

> I welcome and appreciate all kinds of comments, though I would (obviously) prefer if any criticism was constructive. :)


End file.
